8 genius holiday decorating ideas from a DIY blogger Queen

Geneva Vanderzeil, stylish blogger behind A Pair and a Spare, knows her way around a DIY. In fact, she’s made a career of it.

The former urban planner favours a do-it-yourself approach to everything from fashion (which she wears on her constant trips around the world) to homewares (so on point it’s hard to believe they're made at home).

Vanderzeil goes out of her way to beautifully detail her process, along with a slew of step-by-step tutorials.

Seeing as there’s no better time to get creative with decorating than the festive season, HOMES asked Vanderzeil for her favourite holiday-themed DIY projects.

DIY 3D star decorations and gift boxes

If you want to hit two birds with one stone and decorate your place while also sneakily hiding presents from your loved ones, then these 3D star boxes are the perfect multipurpose project.

“I love that these DIY gift boxes act as the perfect decorations in the lead up to the big day!,” says Vanderzeil.

DIY holiday LED leaf garland

If you want to completely transform a space, bring the outdoors in while imbuing it with fairy tale charm that people can’t help but want to Instagram, then Vanderzeil’s LED-light leaf garland should be your next DIY.

“A super versatile piece, [it] can be used to decorate an exterior doorway, a room arch, a bedroom or really anything at all,” she says.

Image: A Pair and a Spare

You’ll need

-Celebrations Micro Dot Wire Light Set Warm White 16-1/2 ft. 100 lights (or any small LEDs of your choice, but these ones have wire that are easy to manipulate and work with)
-Green foliage, purchased locally – you can get this at a tree farm or vendor! We used around 9 bunches
-A 5-yard piece of rope (or longer depending on your dimensions)
-Scissors
-3M Command Wall hooks
-Florist’s wire

Printable holiday gift tags

Vanderzeil teamed up with Jasmine Dowling to create “pretty tags you'll want to put on all your gifts.” The ladies made a set of printable gift tags as a free download to put as a personal, cute touch to gifts.